Children in outpatient follow-up: perspectives of care identified in interviews with puppet.

Abstract

To analyze the perspective of children on their health condition and experiences related to outpatient hospital care and the use of the puppets as a playful strategy to collect data. A qualitative study with 16 children diagnosed with chronic diseases recruited in a pediatric outpatient clinic in countryside of Sao Paulo. Data were collected in October 2016 using a semi-structured interview and a puppet to facilitate communication. The interview transcripts were subjected to inductive thematic analysis. We constructed four themes: "Children in ambulatory follow-up: what do they know?"; "Emotions manifested in outpatient follow-up"; "The outpatient clinic of my dreams" and; "The use of puppets and the playful universe of interviews". We identified the reasons and main feelings experienced during outpatient care, as well as the children's preferences regarding the physical and structural aspects of the outpatient clinic.